ebt Finals throw off in Thessaloniki

The beach handball season gets off to a great start with 20 of the best club teams in Europe being summoned to Thessaloniki for the ebt Finals 2016.

10 men's and 10 women's teams vie for the trophy from this Friday (20 May) to Sunday, including - no question - defending men's champions and six time winners Detono Zagreb as well as defending women's champions Agenta Girls, who only came to the 2015 event courtesy of a wildcard and straight away topped the podium.

"We’ve started with the preparations in April so I hope that this month and a half will be enough to repeat the past season’s successes. We were champions six times in the men’s and two times in women’s event," says Zagreb's Mladen Paradžik.

“The ebt Finals are a very strong competition in which almost everybody has a chance to win, nevertheless our aim is to get hold of the gold medal,” says Agenta Girls head coach János Gróz.

“This tournament is very important for us for various reasons: first of all, of course, we would like to win. Secondly, I would like to know at which stage we are in terms of preparations for the World Championship.”

Hungary hosts the World Beach Handball Championship from 12 to 17 July and with Ágnes Győri, Kitti Gróz, Fruzsina Kretz and Renáta Csiki the Agenta Girls’ squad features several players that won the European Championship last year and reached the final of the World Championship in 2014. Gróz is also the head coach of the women’s national team.

The ten teams in the men's and the women's event have been seeded into groups of five each. The first two of each group qualify for the semi-finals on Sunday.

Furthermore the European Handball Federation has sent a mobile reporter to the event who will provide exclusive behind the scenes coverage as well the very action from the courts on Twitter, Snapchat (add ehf_live to your friends) and Instagram.